In August 2014, two mountain climbers from Tashkent ascended the “seventhousander” Peak Lenin over the classic rout through Peak Razdelnaya (Peak Dividing). According to the Russian grading system, this rout, 5А, is considerably hard. Peak Lenin is located in the central part of the Trans-Alay Range, which is a part of the Pamir Mountains. Peak Lenin, 7.134 m (23,406 ft) above sea level, is the highest point of this range. After the mountain climbers got to the Base Camp, it took them two weeks to acclimate and crest the summit, and on August 21st they were standing on top of it. These are the details and impressions of one of the climbers about the expedition.

“The idea of ascending a seventhousander appeared not spontaneously. Even since the end of the spring, we were planning on going to the Engilchek Glacier and trying to ascend the Western Peak Pobeda (Western Peak Victory, 6.914m, 22.683 ft) and then reaching the mark of 7.000 meters (22.965 ft) or ascending the neighbor mountain Khan Tengri (7.010 m, 22.998 ft). Both Peak Pobeda and Peak Khan Tengri are located in Central Tian Shan, on the very east of Kyrgyzstan. They both have severe glaciation and steepness of their slopes. Moreover, weather conditions are very unstable and unpredictable in that area. All this together makes the ascension of each of these mountains very difficult and a dangerous adventure. Also, it is far from Tashkent, and it requires an expensive helicopter trip to their Base Camps, so we decided to hold on to that trip until another time. Though, since we were already disposed to go on this kind of a trip and started to prepare for it – we decided to ascend another seventhousander – Peak Lenin.

Peak Lenin is located partially on the south of Kyrgyzstan, and the remainder in Tajikistan, with the border going right in the middle of the peak. The most convenient way to get to the Base Camp is from Kyrgyz town Osh. During the first days of August, my companion and I departed from Tashkent and overnight transited on a bus through Kazakhstan to Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Then we rode a taxi to Osh the whole next day – the road is pretty long and it goes over several passes. In the late evening, we finally arrived at Osh and stayed overnight at the transshipment base of the travel agency, with which we had an agreement about transferring us to the Base Camp.

A view of Peak Lenin from the Base Camp

The next day around noon, we departed from Osh and by the evening we arrived to thePlato Achik Tash where Base Camps of various agencies are located. The altitude of our particular Base Camp is 3.600 m (11.811 ft), and it opens to a grand view of the giant Trans-Alay Range and its highest point – Peak Lenin. There, we put up our tent and spent our first night. And the next day we carry a part of our load – food and equipment to Camp 1. It is located on the moraine on the left of the Glacier Lenin, at the altitude 4.400 m (14.435 ft), which is pretty much on the base of the seventhousander. We put up our second tent here and leave our load in it, after which we return to Base Camp on the same day. The next day, we pass out the rest of our supplies to a storage affiliated with our agency and depart again to Camp 1. The path there has a length of 12 km (7.5 mi) and goes through the Pass Puteshestvennikov (Travelers’ Pass) (4.100 m, 13.451 ft ). Usually, this transition takes 4-6 hours, depending on the pace. On this section between the Base Camp and Pass Puteshestvennikov, there are lots of Red Groundhogs and their holes. It is not surprising because the slopes are covered with grass, and groundhogs have a bunch of food.

Red Groundhog

They are not afraid of people almost at all, and it is possible to get close enough to them to take a picture. After the pass landscape changes: there is no more grass here, and the slopes are rocky, dry, and talus, and we barely see groundhogs here. All the way up to Camp 1, we go with no snow, on a good path.

A path to Camp 1

This night we spend in Camp 1, and the next day we depart to the Camp 2 (5.300 m, 17.388 ft). It is located on the moraine near the Plato called Skovoroda (A Pan): on a sunny windless day, it becomes pretty hot here. The sector between the 1st and 2nd Camps is the most dangerous of all because the glacier is filled with deep cracks, some of which are closed up. I counted at least 50 cracks along the way. The whole way is marked with small flags, while the most dangerous spots have railings over them. No one is supposed to walk alone here, and therefore all the climbers go either up or down in tethered groups of two or more people.

A big crack on the way between Camps 1 and 2

A group of tethered French climbers going up to Camp 2; beneath them is Glacier Lenin

The first time, this ascension takes us around 8 hours, and we actually do not reach Camp 2; with our shovel we dig a pit in the snow next to the path and leave our load in there. The thing is that the daylight is fading and we need to descend to Camp 1 before darkness falls. Three days of intensive climbing have exhausted us, and we decided to dedicate the next day to rest at Camp 1.

So the day after rest, we take more of our equipment and food and depart again to Camp 2. This time we leave pretty early, at 4 a.m. On the glacier it blows really hard, and the wind is so cold as to quickly make my fingers numb in my single pair of gloves. My second pair of gloves helps me a great deal! This time we climb faster and easier, and we approach our previous load buried in the snow. We divide it between the two of us, and right a way our backpacks become much heavier so that sleepiness and apathy starts overcoming us, even though the day is in full swing. With frequent and long stops for rest, we barely reached Camp 2.

This camp is rather the most unpleasant place on the entire mountain. Its whole space is occupied with tents of the climbers from all over the world. There are lots of cracks in the glacier and scary holes in the snow everywhere. It is unsafe to walk here alone even at daytime.

Camp 2: a view on the Pan and an upper part of an ice-fall

It is practically impossible to find a flat space for a tent here. We finally put up our tent right between two cracks and make tea. We have no appetite because we experience pressure from high altitude. I am severely suffering, drinking my tea and eating a couple candies and some cheese, and then I fall into some kind of unconsciousness. My companion suffers less, but in the morning we exchange places: I feel okay, but he has a terrible headache. It takes us a very long time to remove our tent to a more convenient place, which became available in the morning. It is actually hard to call it convenient – it is bumpy with stones frozen into pure ice. But at least here we do not risk falling into that bottomless crack right after getting out of our tent in the morning!

After each set of several steps, we have to sit down and take a long rest. We actually were planning on ascending the Camp 3 (6.100 m, 20.013 ft) and spending the night there. But now we understand that we are not capable to go there at this time or even endure the altitude here, and so tethering ourselves with a rope, we start descending to Camp 1.

The next day, we continue our descent all the way down to Base Camp. We do not feel very well, and we decide we need a two-day rest. On the same day, the weather turned bad, with the first rain and snow that we have seen on this trip. During one day, over half a meter (1.6 ft) of snow fell in the upper camps. We are waiting a couple of days in our tent in Base Camp – it snowed here too, just a little bit.

Finally, the weather improves, and we are going up again. Now everywhere lays fresh snow, from 5 cm (2 in) in Base Camp up to 70 cm (2.3 ft) in Camp 3. Because of a layer of fresh snow, it takes us much longer to get to 1st Camp, and here we are allowed to spend the night in a tent that belongs our agency – because of the end of the season, more than half of the tents are empty. We are really glad that we won’t have to dig a pit in the snow and put up our own small tent.

A view on Peak Lenin from Camp 1

The next day, we did not go anywhere because the avalanche risk is too high, although the weather is excellent. We witness a huge dry avalanche on the left from the crest of Peak Lenin. To kill time, we help the personnel of Camp 1 to fold empty tents. The following morning, or, more precisely, at 4 a.m., we depart in order to go to Camp 2. Last night, we had tangible frost that caused the snow to freeze, and so we can move faster now. We feel great! In record time, we reach Camp 2 where we find our second tent, with food and warm clothing, to be buried under a whole lot of frozen snow.

Digging out our tent

It takes us over an hour to dig it out, after which we make a meal and hot tea. The rest of the day, we hang about the camp and then rest in our tent.

In the lower camps, we cooked rice or buckwheat with jerky cut into small pieces every day. In addition, we had cheese, horsemeat sausage and lard, as well as several kinds of candies, oatmeal cookies and apricot jam, for dessert. But here in Camp 2, we do not cook from scratch, and instead pour boiling water into mashed potatoes and other pre-prepared foods. This kind of food is easy to digest, and we are having a good time with it.

We have two 1-liter thermoses into which we store up hot tea and keep them in our sleeping bags every night. At this high altitude, hot tea, dissoluble rosehip tea and chamomile extract really tone and warm us up, as well as quench our thirst and save us from dehydration.

The next morning, we leave to Camp 3; the distance to it is not long – only around 2.5 km (1.5 mi) - but the increase in altitude is great. This camp is located on the Peak Razdelnaya (6.100 m, 20.013 ft). We slowly overcome steep ascent and decide to descend from Razdelnaya to a saddle at an elevation of 6.050 m (19.849 ft) which is going to reduce our route tomorrow. Along the way, we use a radio set that was given to us in Camp 1, we connect over it and report our exact location and farther plans every 4 hours, 4 times a day. We put up our tent on the saddle and relax in it, tomorrow we are going to crest the peak.

It is cold at night: the temperature on an electronic thermometer is –20.6 C (-5.08 F). At 2 a.m., we wake up, melt some snow and ice on our gas-burner and make hot tea that we pour into our thermoses. We have breakfast, slowly get ready, put on insulated pants, down jackets, harnesses, plastic boots and crampons, together with insulated gloves, glasses and hats. Then we put thermoses, snacks and photo-camera in our backpacks. Lastly, we press our tent to the ground and put stones all over it so that it won’t be carried away by the wind to Tajikistan. Our food and sleeping bags remain in the tent. While we are thus getting ready, about twenty climbers pass us by from Razdelnaya.

We leave to the crest at 4 a.m., it is still dark and really cold, and once you take off your gloves your fingers become frostbitten right away.

We are starting an endless and torturous ascent to the Plato 6.400 m (20.997 ft). Day is breaking, although sun is not visible yet. I experience weakness and total loss of strength, so I take frequent breaks, and keep moving. In a couple hours, it gradually feels easier: my strength partially comes back to me and my mood improves. We approach a steep icy sector that is called Nozh (A Knife), on the altitude 6.600 m (21.653 ft). There are railings, and we overcome this hurtle and slowly continue our ascent to the peak. Hour after hour passes, but it is still very far for the peak. We get on the Plato 6.900 m (22.637 ft); many years ago, somewhere here an entire Soviet team of eight female mountain climbers died.

An ascent on the altitude over 7.000 m (22.965 ft)

We gradually overtake all the climbers ahead of us and go first. We meet two people that are already on their way back from the summit, and then another one who informs me that he was on the summit at noon. We are already on the altitude over 7.000 m, but cannot find the summit for a long time. Time after time, we think we have reached the summit, but it always eludes us.

Finally, we reach the summit, after almost a 9-hour ascent. We feel good, but it is really cold and windy out here. We are on the altitude 7.134 m a. s. l.

On the summit

Besides a rusty ice ax and various flags, there is a bust of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin here.

A bust of Lenin

We are spending around 15 minutes here, quickly taking pictures and going down. It takes so much faster to descend! Around 5:30 pm we descended back to our tent on the saddle. The next morning, we gather our stuff, pass by Camp 3 and descend to Camp 2. Here, we also take our stuff and continue descending to Camp 1. Though, it is not the end of our day: in Camp 1 we take a part of our equipment and outfit and make the 12 km trip to Base Camp. This day, we walked a total of 20.7 km (12.8 mi) and dropped 2.5 km (1.5 mi) of altitude.

The next day, we come back to Camp 1 and take the rest of our stuff, gas bottles and so on. Then we carry this last load to Base Camp. A minibus is waiting for us here, and we quickly load our backpacks and bags. The minibus drives us together with other climbers to Osh where we spend the night. Then we cross Kyrgyz-Uzbek border and 5 more hours ride a taxi to Tashkent. The whole trip took us 20 days, and it is good to come back home”.

Peak Lenin is one of the most accessible seventhousanders on planet earth because it doesn’t require special climbing techniques, and hundreds of climbers from all over the world crest the summit every year. Yet because people tend to underestimate the difficulty and risks of such an expedition, some of the climbers die during or after their ascent. Officially, there are quite a few deaths a year on Peak Lenin, and beyond that there are unregistered climber deaths that are not counted by official statistics. Moreover, besides individual fatal cases, at least three mass tragedies took place in the past decades that are worth to be mentioned.

In 1968, a group of ill-equipped Russian Airborne Troops soldiers were brought by a plane onto the peak and dropped there. Strong wind drifted all the parachutists into rocky area of the mountain, landing on which killed four of them and injured others.

Both of us on the summit

It has been 40 years since the famous tragedy on Peak Lenin with the Soviet national female team headed by Elvira Shataeva. They dreamed of traversing up the Lipkin Ridge to the 7.134 m summit and then down the Peak Razdelnaya. That was the first precedent in the world in this altitude with a female group, and they wanted to prove that women can do it without the help of men. They successfully ascended the peak, but the weather turned bad, and they put up their tents waiting for it to improve. The weather was turning worse, though, and two of the women quickly got sick. They were forced to descend, and on the altitude around 7.000 m they all died in a storm, in August 1974.

On July 13, 1990, an earthquake caused on a slope of Peak Lenin, a giant snow-ice fall that destroyed Camp 2 called a Pan. The size of the snow-ice slope was 1 km (0.6 mi) in length and 1.5 km (0.9 mi) in width. Only two people from the camp were able to escape, while 43 climbers died. 25 of them were from Leningrad, a team of young climbers that were getting ready to ascend Everest the following year. It was the first tragedy in the mountains of this scale.

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/cross-regional-and-blogosphere/uzbek-mountain-climbers-ascended-the-popular-peak-lenin-in-kyrgyzstan/feed/0Kyrgyz-American filmmakers started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarterhttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/kyrgyz-american-filmmakers-started-a-crowdfunding-campaign-on-kickstarter/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/kyrgyz-american-filmmakers-started-a-crowdfunding-campaign-on-kickstarter/#commentsTue, 10 Feb 2015 06:47:50 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28793Two ambitious filmmakers from Kyrgyzstan and the United States have launched a Kickstarter campaign for Culmination, an action / thriller feature film set in Kyrgyzstan.

American filmmaker Alexander Beasley and Kyrgyz director Kanat Omurbekov started a crowdfunding campaign for implementing the project. The Kyrgyz and American production has assembled an international team hailing from five countries and three continents. Culmination‘s composer, Federico Truzzi, a native of Milan, Italy has already composed the title track for the film.

The film’s narrative revolves around an unfaithful businessman, who as a result of his dark past, now struggles to clear his name and ransom his son from an avenging kidnapper within the next 24 hours.

The main premise of the film is about justice and how one cannot escape the wrongs which have been committed in the past.

According to the filmmakers, Culmination will be the first live action feature film to a use a still photography camera. The Canon 50D was manufactured with no video function but has been modified by the developers at Magic Lantern to record high quality cinema video.

Currently, the producers of Culmination are seeking $50,000 to fund their project with the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. The funding campaign will end on February 22, 2015. If successful, the film will be released in March of 2016 in Kyrgyz theaters and globally distributed with Vimeo On Demand.

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/kyrgyz-american-filmmakers-started-a-crowdfunding-campaign-on-kickstarter/feed/0Green card lottery winners from Uzbekistan face challenges at home and abroadhttps://www.neweurasia.net/cross-regional-and-blogosphere/green-card-lottery-winners-from-uzbekistan-face-challenges-at-home-and-abroad/
https://www.neweurasia.net/cross-regional-and-blogosphere/green-card-lottery-winners-from-uzbekistan-face-challenges-at-home-and-abroad/#commentsThu, 04 Dec 2014 06:25:34 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28783NEW YORK – When Akram and Sevara Muradova won the lottery they did not expect to struggle for the next year. But their first months in the U.S. after winning the green card lottery and immigrating from Uzbekistan were difficult.

Editor’s note: Ilaria Parogni is a freelance journalist based in New York. She is currently completing a joint MA in Journalism and Russian Studies at New York University.

By Ilaria Parogni

Sevara, 37, arrived in New York from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with her husband Akram and their 3-year old daughter in 2008. Her first anniversary in the city marked what she calls the end of “a year of surviving.” Akram, a civil engineer, had won a permanent resident visa through the green card lottery, which enabled him to move to the United States with his family.

Sevara’s and Akram’s names, as well as the names of other immigrants mentioned in this article, have been changed to protect their identities and those of their family in Uzbekistan, a country ranked by Freedom House among the most repressive regimes in the world. Having left the country, the couple spent their first year in the U.S. trying to find jobs, unable to validate their diplomas and with no knowledge of the benefits – from food stamps to Medicare – available to them as green card holders. “After that, we realized that we missed a lot of opportunities,” Sevara said. “We were struggling by ourselves.”

On Nov. 3 the application period to enter the U.S. Green Card Lottery for 2016 came to an end. The lottery is the first stage of the Diversity Visa Program, which aims at allocating green cards to citizens from countries with “historically low rates of immigration to the United States,” as described on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website. According to a State Department official, 11,391,134 people applied to enter the lottery this year, a 21 percent increase from last year. Of them, 979,762 applicants were Uzbek citizens, compared with 834,420 in 2013.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union – when Uzbeks were first included in the lottery, they have grown into one of the nations with the largest green card lottery quotas (50,000 for 2016). It regularly figures among the top ten countries by number of selected winners, and is the second largest in Europe after Ukraine (the Bureau of Consular Affairs lists Uzbekistan the Europe section). In New York, their presence is particularly strong. In 2013, Uzbekistan was the second largest source of “diversity immigrant visas” (as green cards obtained through the lottery are called) in the city after Bangladesh, according to the 2013 The Newest New Yorkers report issued by the Department of City Planning of the City of New York.

Winning a lottery is only the first step in the process of acquiring a green card – it is normally the easier, even though some report difficulties filling out the application form in English. After being selected, winners are expected to put together a visa application. This is only possible if the applicant meets certain requirements in education and work experience. All documents then have to be translated into English, and originals or certified copies have to be submitted. Additionally, applicants have to pass a medical examination.

“The hardest part was [having] to go to Kazakhstan for medical assessment,” recalled Nigora Rahmatova, a 31-year-old from Tashkent who won a green card eight years. “Only 2 years after we came here, they organized the medical assessment center in Tashkent and people stopped having to go to Kazakhstan.”

According to Sevara, the visa application process can be daunting, especially since it has to be completed in English. Many Uzbeks rely on third-party organizations that help them complete the applications, but this increases the risk of being exposed to scams and frauds. Michelle Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute, an independent nonprofit think tank in Washington, said that “the $330 fee may also prove a hurdle for some applicants.”

The biggest difficulties arise at the moment of arrival in the United States.

“Unlike the vast majority of immigrants to the United States, diversity visa holders are not coming here based on family ties or a job awaiting them,” Mittelstadt said. “In the absence of family or employment awaiting them, they may face a more difficult path on their journey to success.”

Many can’t speak English, while others have a hard time finding jobs matching the level of education and training received at home. Sevara, who holds a doctorate in political science and has just started studying for a Master of Arts in Russian studies at New York University, she worked as a caregiver in a nursing home before her return to academia.

Arriving in a new country, often with no knowledge of English, is disorienting. “There should be some guide, at least,” Sevara said. “(There) should be more efforts to help to assimilate these people, because most of them (are) struggling because of the lack of the information.” The executive director of the Center for Migration Studies of New York Donald M. Kerwin, Jr. said that the government does not provide “special benefits, orientation or services” to people on diversity visas, as it does, for example, for refugees.

While the federal government might not have a system in place to cater to the needs of diversity immigrants, grassroots-movements can be particularly important in providing the needed support. Rachel Periz, deputy director of Welcoming America, a national initiative aimed at promoting collaboration and integration between foreign-born residents and their local communities of immigrants and citizens, says that the struggles that diversity immigrants face are very similar to those of other immigrants. In her opinion, communities, local businesses and governments can make a difference. Welcoming America has launched 80 programs across the U.S., working with local communities on citizenship-related issues, language-accessibility, raising awareness and favoring integration. “It’s really about getting the whole community together,” Periz said.

While Welcoming America regards New York as a successfully “welcoming city,” the divide between U.S. institutions and the foreign-born immigrants in the city is still visible. Uzbeks often depend on connections within the community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union to find jobs and navigate the system. As Sevara notes, Jewish community centers such as Shorefront Y and nonprofit Uzbek organization Vatandosh offer support through language courses, translation services and educational seminars, as well as by providing lists of benefits and rights available to green card holders.

For many immigrants, however, bonds built upon a shared immigrant experience and common heritage remain the primary source of support. Oleg Levin, 39, a Russian Jewish citizen of Uzbekistan, won a green card seven years ago. When he first arrived in the U.S., he missed out on most of the benefits he could have applied for because of his limited knowledge of English. “I couldn’t also apply for any job; only those for which English wasn’t required,” he said. “So, I moved to Brooklyn, where I was able find some job and speak Russian with my boss, who was also a Russian Jew.”

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/cross-regional-and-blogosphere/green-card-lottery-winners-from-uzbekistan-face-challenges-at-home-and-abroad/feed/0U.S. Embassy Supports Preservation of Artifacts in Bukharahttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/u-s-embassy-supports-preservation-of-artifacts-in-bukhara/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/u-s-embassy-supports-preservation-of-artifacts-in-bukhara/#commentsThu, 06 Nov 2014 19:27:46 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28760On November 5, Ambassador Krol and the Director of the State Archeological and History Museum, Abdurashid Zakrilayev, inaugurated an exhibition of restored archeological artifacts at the Bukhara State Archeological and History Museum “Ark” in Bukhara.

Despite the rain and cloudy weather, the former winter palace of the Emir of Bukhara warmly welcomed the guests from Tashkent and other cities.

The U.S. Embassy provided a $50,600 Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation grant for the preservation and conservation of archeological artifacts from the museum’s collection. With these funds, the museum restored archeological artifacts from the Stone Age to late medieval times. The artifacts were discovered over many decades during archeological excavations and research, and consist of ceramic objects, corroded coins, as well as wall paintings found at the Varahsha, Paykend, and Uchkulah archeological sites and many carved clay pieces from the Shahristan Fortress – according to the press service of the U.S. Embassy.

The project originally planned to restore 500 artifacts, but thanks to the support of this grant, 732 artifacts were restored. Totally there are around 12000 artifacts in the Ark museum.

“Uzbekistan, while a relatively young state, is yet a country incredibly rich in history and culture, with deep traditions and an ancient soul. It is truly a wise investment in the future stability of any country to understand and honor its past. We are honored to help restore the objects at this museum in Bukhara, which have a great historical value and show the culture, everyday life and traditions of the people that lived on the territory of ancient Uzbekistan,” Ambassador Krol noted in his opening remarks.

The Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation has supported 11 projects in Uzbekistan focused on the restoration of ancient and historic buildings, the assessment and conservation of rare manuscripts and museum collections, the preservation and protection of important archaeological sites, and the documentation of traditional craft techniques.

One of the Ark museum staff said to the NewEurasia.net that there are many thousands of artifacts which can be restored. Apparently, the Uzbek government has a lack of funds for archeology; as we can see Uzbek museums are trying to attract foreign sponsors. For example, in May of this year, the museum Afrasiab town announced an international fundraising for the restoration of the fresco “The Ambassadors of Afrasiab” dated the 7th century AD.

The U.S. Embassy in Tashkent is currently accepting applications for the next round of AFCP grants. The deadline is December 1, 2014.

You can see few of the artifacts from this exhibition in our gallery:

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/u-s-embassy-supports-preservation-of-artifacts-in-bukhara/feed/0150th anniversary of Toktogul Satylganovhttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/150th-anniversary-of-toktogul-satylganov/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/150th-anniversary-of-toktogul-satylganov/#commentsSat, 25 Oct 2014 20:32:25 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28754This year the 150th anniversary of the great Kyrgyz poet and prominent komuzist Toktogul Satylganov is celebrated in all corners of Kyrgyzstan.

International Organization of Turkic Culture and Art (TURKSOY) declared this 2014 year as the Year of Toktogul Satylganov. Ceremonies dedicated to the anniversary of the poet, are held in all parts of Kyrgyzstan, including his small native land – Toktogul district of Jalal-Abad province. On October 17 there was an opening ceremony of the monument to Toktogul Satylganov.

Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Djoomart Otorbaev, who attended the opening ceremony of the monument, pointed out the highest contribution of the Kyrgyz poet to the cultural heritage of the country.

“State highly appreciates the akyn’s (poet in Kyrgyz) unique talent, as well as his contributions to the people and the artistic heritage. Name of Toktogul Satylganov was given to the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the country, the National Philharmonic Hall in the capital city, the streets of Kyrgyzstan, as well as to the area in Ketmen-Tyube valley, where the poet was born and raised. Many educational institutions and the State Prize in literature, music, film, visual and performing arts are also named after the great Kyrgyz akyn and philosopher. Today, we have witnessed the opening of one more monument to Toktogul Satylganov in Toktogul district. The great poet deserves such honors rightfully. Every Kyrgyz, all the people of our country is proud of Toktogul Satylganov”, – Otorbaev said.

Government of the Kyrgyz Republic developed a great program for the celebration of the prominent poet’s anniversary both in Kyrgyzstan and abroad. Events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Toktogul Satylganov are conducted in fourteen Turkic-speaking countries and in federal subjects of the Russian Federation.

Toktogul Satylganov

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/150th-anniversary-of-toktogul-satylganov/feed/0The Clay Toy Festival promotes child right to play and developmenthttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/%d1%84%d0%b5%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bb%d1%8c-%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b8%d0%bd%d1%8f%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85-%d0%b8%d0%b3%d1%80%d1%83%d1%88%d0%b5%d0%ba-%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%be%d1%81%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%81%d1%82/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/%d1%84%d0%b5%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bb%d1%8c-%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b8%d0%bd%d1%8f%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85-%d0%b8%d0%b3%d1%80%d1%83%d1%88%d0%b5%d0%ba-%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%be%d1%81%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%81%d1%82/#commentsSat, 18 Oct 2014 16:51:53 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28749UNICEF Uzbekistan jointly with the Rahimov’s Studio of Ceramics conducts The Clay Toy Festival dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It will be held on October 17-19, 2014 by organizing a pottery workshop for students of kindergartens and schools of Tashkent City including children from vulnerable groups.

The Clay Toy Festival is a part of the global commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the convention. The CRC@25 Campaign in Uzbekistan includes a series of advocacy, media and community mobilization interventions to be conducted throughout the country and culminating at the gala event in Tashkent on 20th November, Universal Day of the Child.

“Empowering children to realize their rights including the right to development and play is a key part of UNICEF’s mission globally and in Uzbekistan,-” said Berina Arslanagic-Ibisevic, UNICEF’s Deputy Representative. “By providing knowledge about CRC, opportunities for child participation in the issues related to their growth, health and development through peer-to-peer as well as adults-children dialogues, we will contribute towards achieving this outcome,-” she added.

The workshop aims in educating children about the child rights, in particular the right to play and the right to development. The festival will help young children, through artistic expressions, to become more aware of their rights and confident in expressing their views and opinions. Uzbek masters of ceramic from Samarkand, Kashadarya, Bukhara and Tashkent regions will conduct the practical pottery lessons for children, which will give the children a unique opportunity to learn from different Uzbek schools of ceramics.

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/%d1%84%d0%b5%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bb%d1%8c-%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b8%d0%bd%d1%8f%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85-%d0%b8%d0%b3%d1%80%d1%83%d1%88%d0%b5%d0%ba-%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%be%d1%81%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%81%d1%82/feed/0My Kyrgyzstan: the way I see ithttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/my-kyrgyzstan-the-way-i-see-it/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/my-kyrgyzstan-the-way-i-see-it/#commentsSat, 18 Oct 2014 16:33:48 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=2871817-31 October, the UN Office in Kyrgyzstan holds exhibition in an unusual format. Works of Kyrgyz artists are presented at the exhibition with paintings made ​​by the children with disabilities.

The idea of the exhibition “My Kyrgyzstan: the way I see it” is to acquaint visitors with the works of several generations of artists of Kyrgyzstan, as well as to demonstrate how rich is the inner world and how limitless are creative abilities of the children, whose possibilities are limited in something else.

These days from 16th to 22nd of October the Fourth International Puppet Theatre Festival “Chadory Khayol” is taking place in Dushanbe. The festival will present performances by puppet theatres from Tajikistan, Iran, Turkey, France, Russia, Spain, Belorussia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan.

The conference called “Problems of puppet theatres ” will also take place in the framework of the festival.

Bellow are the photos from the puppet theatre performance “”Forest adventures” from Russia (Novosibirsk).

Photos by Nisso Aziziva

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/international-puppet-theatre-festival-in-dushanbe/feed/0Censorship and art in Central Asia: postcolonial and post-Soviet perspectiveshttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/censorship-and-art-in-central-asia-postcolonial-and-post-soviet-perspectives/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/censorship-and-art-in-central-asia-postcolonial-and-post-soviet-perspectives/#commentsFri, 17 Oct 2014 05:50:35 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28687In Central Asia, censorship of artistic activities or of public representations of their results by and large reflects the complexity of the society. It seems that censorship is too often seen either as a form of ruthless repression by the authorities of the freedom of creative expression or as an ethically justified measure against artists’ unacceptable attempts to trespass on forbidden ground. Thus the public views of censorship become polarised and only social anthropologists seem to have time to examine the mechanism of its functioning. .

Here I would like to explore a couple of examples from different countries of the Central Asian region (CA) to identify the narratives, meanings and paradigms that emerge in the process of censorship and to look at the way it is functioning. In the first approximation, the agents who carry out censoring view themselves as defenders of values, taboos, traditions, world views and practices that stem from two sources, namely the Soviet past and the conservative, traditionalist discourse often referred to as ‘national mentality’. Without going into much detail about these concepts being socially constructed and not given to us in a final and unchangeable shape, I would like to underline their complexity and maintain that only some of their aspects are involved in censoring artwork.

Thus, the wide-scale censoring of Soviet art works in Uzbekistan, especially those on public display, did not affect the Soviet Orientalism, a representation of the Soviet Asia as the exotic ‘other’. On the contrary, it was the Soviet ‘national’ art that became the foundation of the modern neo-traditionalism while explicit political symbols of the Soviet regime (emblems, sculptures, monuments and even the red colour of public propaganda posters) were subjected to strict censorship. What is remarkable is that the authorities’ anti-Soviet reaction against certain art narratives and forms uses the same cultural code that emerged in the region by the end of the Soviet period. Hardly any traces of postcolonial reaction can be identified here.

On the other hand, when Kanat Ibragimov, a Kazakh artist and actionist staged a performance in Moscow that involved the slaughtering of a sheep and drinking of its blood, this was perceived not only as a provocatively cruel intervention, but as a symptom of ‘Asiatic barbarity’. An opinion was voiced that Kazakhstan is inhabited by wild people who should not be allowed to Moscow. A clear-cut postcolonial conflict evident in this case has a lot of common with other scandalous performance by the ‘virtual Kazakh’ Borat which also explores the borders of political correctness and social taboos.

Performance “Sheep” by Kanat Ibragimov

Interestingly, when another artist from Kazakhstan, Sergey Maslov (an ethnic Russian) repeated this performance in a museum in Almaty, publicly using ‘a virgin’s blood’ to make a sketch and to drink the remaining ‘paint’, he was also driven by a postcolonial reaction which was not publicly recognised as such. Maslov gave the following explanation to his performance: ‘Europeans often think too high of themselves only because they do not understand the culture of other people. That is why being a Russian artist I decided to do the same or may be something even more frightening’. Although this intervention shocked both the administration of the museum and the visitors, its postcolonial motivation was not acknowledged and censorship was emphatically administrative: Maslov was sacked from the art school where he taught in the best of the Soviet traditions.

Complex relationships between ethnic and national identities of artists as well as of the audience in my opinion form the backbone of all forms of censorship in CA irrespective of the political context within each country. At the same time specific forms of reaction, as can be seen in the given example of Ibragimov and Maslov’ performances, can be articulated completely differently.

The presence of the ethnic component in a conflict between the artist and the censor can be identified even when colonial or postcolonial narratives are not involved directly. In such cases this component becomes built into political and conceptual confrontation. In 2012 the Bishkek Theatre of Russian Drama cancelled the media-performance of the Russian playwright and artist Olga Zhitlina called The Week of Silence supported by the local neo-Marxist School of Theory and Activism Bishkek (STAB). The play is an artistic reaction against the tightening of the anti-abortion law in Russia and focuses on personal experience and dilemmas that women face as well as ‘the forces that are trying to influence her decision: from the partner and relatives to the clergy and authorities’. Giving his justification for the cancellation of the performance, the theatre’s Director quoted the irrelevance of the Russia-specific narratives to the Kyrgyz context, although the main reason for the censorship was the feminist criticism of the patriarchal standpoints and practices of the Russian Orthodox Church and the authorities.

“The week of silence” media-performance by Olga Zhitlina

Although this episode was seemingly unrelated to Kyrgyz realities, censorship was aimed at the meanings developing along the metonymical and metaphorical lines. Evidently, feminist criticism of the Orthodox Church in the play is metonymically associated with the Pussy Riot scandal and cannot be approved of by the pro-Russian Kyrgyz government. On the other hand, this criticism can be metaphorically applied to all patriarchal and traditionalist societies as well as to their viewpoints and practices, including Kyrgyzstan.

In this respect, looking closely at the semantic structures behind the mechanisms of art censoring one should bear in mind that contemporary art is always more or less provocative in its challenge of different values of the dominant culture. Similarly, any dominant culture irrespective of its political standpoint and the extent of declared freedom will always resist the threats of de-tabooing of its values. One should however avoid simplistic and essentialist identification of certain social structures with progressive or conservative functions. Left-wing, liberal and conservative authors and critics can switch sides in relation to specific and in particular, metonymically derived meanings and can carry out art censoring from ‘progressive’ standpoints. Sometimes this kind of censorship can be as severe as anything done by traditionalist institutions.

A good example of this is the discussion focusing on the installation by Vyachslav Useinov, an artist from Uzbekistan called The Abdication of Swastika which won the Grand Prix at the 7th Tashkent Biennale in 2013. Although the curators of the exhibition at first had some doubts whether the stylised ‘fascist emblem’ should be exhibited, but they were later convinced by the artist’s arguments who maintained that his ‘objective was a rehabilitation of the origins of the swastika, an attempt to revive its historic meaning by artistic means… I position the swastika with the help of historic architecture, folk art: embroidery, skull caps where it has always been a necessary decorative element which carries an important positive message.’

Nevertheless, most of the left-wing Uzbek intelligentsia especially living abroad voiced explicit criticism of the work: Useinov was pronounced a ‘Nazi’, and some demanded that he should be punished for ‘visually shouting HeilHitler’ for the very attempt of de-tabooing the swastika. There were calls for internet news agencies to withdraw their materials about the Biennale and Useinov’s work. Boris Chukhovich, one of the world’s leading experts in contemporary art in CA, and one of the more profound critics of the installation, interpreted it as a mimicry of a commercial and decorative project as a piece of contemporary art and identified the following five reasons why The Abdication of Swastika was not just allowed at the exhibition, but won the Grand Prix:

1) both the artist and the official art critics from Uzbekistan promote the idea that Uzbek art is metaphysical and asocial;

2) the authorities and the artist are trying to ‘extend’ national history in the past through ancient symbols;

3) the use of ‘Aryan’ symbols ‘for an unconscious but a Nazi purpose’;

4) Islam as a point of reference for official artists;

5) criticism of the modern world, aimed against the ‘injustice’ committed against the swastika, an ancient Asian symbol

Although Chukhovich’s position seems to be well-substantiated, I find it noteworthy that in this case the part of dogmatic and intolerant censors was played by the representatives of the left-wing, ‘progressive’ discourse, most of them living outside Uzbekistan. Leaving aside the political content of the conflict, I see its main cause in different perceptions of the strength of metonymical links between the symbol and the meanings generated by it. Useinov saw his task in the revival of the metaphorical and metaphysical interpretation of the ancient symbol which can often be seen in Central Asian décor. This intention, ‘a call for the refutation of the historical and the assertion of essentialism and metaphysics is not fascism as such but it provides fertile soil for the growth of fascism,’ maintains Georgy Mamedov, an art critic from Bishkek. On the other hand, by claiming that ‘the swastika is absolutely and inseparably linked with Nazism’, left-wing censors unwillingly fall in the trap of essentialism in their belief that the metonymical identification of the symbol with this meaning which has recently developed in the West is absolute and cannot be subjected to de-construction or criticism. The fact that the swastika carries less political connotation in CA where it can be seen in everyday life is ignored and the artist aspiring to make an intervention in the area of contemporary art is required to follow the current paradigms of this art formulated outside the region.

To conclude, censorship of art in CA cannot be reduced to simple juxtaposition ofthe essential challenge posed by contemporary art against the eternal conservatism of dominant cultures. The complexity and controversy of the Central Asian society often lead to clashes between different cultural codes and taboos within it; they create different interpretations of the meanings generated within the society. Unfortunately, each of these systems tends to ascribe its own principles and presumptions an absolute value which often result in an over-judgemental attitude to different artistic works without an in-depth contextual analysis. The gap between the mainstream artistic concepts and practices established in CA and various axiomatic paradigms of contemporary art in the ‘West’ is a historically determined cause of a range of conflicts and controversies on different planes. In this context, only recognition of multiple languages of operation and description of the world, society and art in CA that is not reduced to ethical relativism or moralising partisanship, can serve as a starting point for a profound contextual research which should precede any censorship or criticism.

Alex UlkoThe artwork of Kanat Ibragimov was used for a post thumbnail. Source

]]>https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/censorship-and-art-in-central-asia-postcolonial-and-post-soviet-perspectives/feed/0Handicraft Fair dedicated to Dushanbe dayhttps://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/handicraft-fair-dedicated-to-dushanbe-day/
https://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/handicraft-fair-dedicated-to-dushanbe-day/#commentsFri, 17 Oct 2014 05:33:47 +0000https://www.neweurasia.net/?p=28639This days Dushanbe city is celebrating its 90th anniversary. The mayor of the city has decided to initiated several events in the framework of the celebration of the anniversary. The big handicraft fair has become one of the events.